Facebook Inc. (FB) Has Issue in France: Private Being Public

Facebook Inc.Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) is one of the online companies that has had to deal with privacy issues in Europe, and now in the midst of working on allowing consent for a lot of its features, now there is an issue with privacy becoming public in France. But what the cause of this is still up for investigation.

A report out of France says that there have been claims that some users’ private messages to friends are showing up on users’ very public walls on Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB). There was no indication hat this goes beyond France – though now apparently there are some reports of this now happening in the U.S. –  but the issue has been mentioned in ore than one French media outlet.

This is a repeat of a previous issue several years ago, where apparently some messages between 2007 and 2009 started showing up, but now it seems that messages sent as late as last year are now appearing. Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) said it only got wind of this issue Monday morning when the reports appeared in the French media. When asked about the issue, an official said the company does not know whether this is a specific issue or more worldwide, and it was trying to determine whether this was a bug or a hack.

In a later update, however, it appears that this issue is starting to appear on accounts in the U.S. We will keep an eye on this and let you know about the resolution. In the meantime, this just seems to be yet another privacy issue for Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), which has been a bugaboo not only for the company but also for investors in Facebook stock, like hedge-fund manager George Soros of Soros Fund Management.